Field of the Invention
The present teaching relates to a feed apparatus feeding a sheet supported by a support unit and an image recording apparatus including the feed apparatus.
Description of the Related Art
There is conventionally known a feed apparatus configured such that a support unit in a state of being inclined supports a plurality of sheets stacked thereon and each of the sheets is fed obliquely downward along the inclination of the support unit. In this feed apparatus, the sheets supported by the support unit are biased by the own weight of a feed roller.
However, in such feed apparatus, the sheets supported by the support unit in the state of being inclined are more likely to move along the inclination of the support unit by its own weight or the following cause. That is, in a case that a sheet arranged on the uppermost side is fed by the rotation of the feed roller, a sheet abutting against the uppermost sheet is dragged (moves together with the uppermost sheet) due to the frictional force between the uppermost sheet and the sheet abutting against the uppermost sheet. As a result, there is fear that the overlapped feed of sheets are more likely to occur. Further, the overlapped feed of sheets could be caused also by the following phenomenon. That is, in the feed apparatus, there is some distance between a separation claw which is a separation member and the feed roller. Thus, although the sheets are biased against the support unit at a position at which the sheets abut against the feed roller, no sheet is biased against the support unit by the feed roller in an area between the separation claw and the feed roller. Therefore, a gap may be sometimes formed between the sheets during the consecutive feed of sheets. In such a case, the abutting angles between the sheets and the separation claw vary, which causes the variation of the conveyance force required to let the sheet ride over the separation claw, and thus the overlapped feed of sheets could occur.